What Feeds You?

The way we eat can so often give us deeper insight on how we are living and taking care of ourselves.

Our eating patterns can signify other areas of our life that might be out of balance or parts of ourselves that we are not nurturing.

Sometimes our pattern is to reach for food to ease, numb or distract us from our lives. Sometimes we eat a bag of chips or pint of ice cream and then quickly hide the evidence in the garbage. Or we feel better about ourselves when we skip a meal or two followed by uncontrollable cravings later on.

And so we often mistake that food, or our cravings, or our habits, are the problem. They are not the problem. This is what has manifested through the process of neglecting our deeper selves.

If we are not nourishing who we are and nurturing all parts of ourselves, our lives can feel confusing, empty, lost, dead.

These feelings are uncomfortable, no doubt, and so we often develop ways of distracting ourselves from these feelings of emptiness.

These ways are often the quick fix, the instant satisfaction. The diet. The pill. A short-term feeling of fulfillment.

However, most often, the nourishment we reach for and fill ourselves with feels ironically unfulfilling.

If we cut ourselves off from who we are and avoid doing those things that are important to us, our body and soul feels the deprivation. It becomes hungry and demands attention.

And because our ‘selves’ feed off of sincere feelings of happiness, love and connection, it absolutely notices when we feel disconnected.

We nourish ourselves through doing what we love to do - that which fuel us and give us a feeling of being alive. They are the 'lose yourself in the moment' type things that are so unique to you.

And if we don't, the feeling of deprivation can lead us to other ways that might fill the gap - such as emotional or disordered eating.

The answer is not there in food, often it is not in fixing what you eat, or controlling your portions. The answer is deeper within yourself.

How are you feeding your entire self?

Do you know what you need to stay balanced, grounded, centered? What is it?

Can you be still with what you feel inside?

Can you sit with the feelings of pain or love inside your heart?

Do you do things for you? Do you make time for those things?

Do you write, draw, journal, dance, and do those things you loved to do as a kid?